Vladimir
Putin has inadvertently suggested that more than 300,000 Russian soldiers have died or been heavily wounded in
Ukraine.
The figures are in stark contrast to the last death toll offered by the Kremlin, which suggested less than 6,000 troops in Ukraine had been killed.
During his first news conference since the full-scale invasion, he suggested that 244,000 Russians had been mobilised, before adding that 486,000 had volunteered to fight.
He then proceeded to say that 617,000 Russians were fighting in Ukraine.
According to military analyst Yan Matveyev, an additional 250,000 Russian soldiers were involved in the first stages of the invasion in the six months prior to the partial mobilisation of September 2022.
“That is,
Putin literally admitted irretrievable losses in the amount of 363,000 people,” Mr Matveyev said.
This figure roughly aligns with US estimates that were declassified earlier this week, which suggested that
Russia had suffered 315,000 dead and injured troops in Ukraine.
But the last time the Kremlin offered an estimate of the death toll was September 2022, in which they said only 5,937 soldiers had been killed.